Marks and Spencer plc was set up in 1884 in Leeds by Michael Marks and re-branded
as Marks & Spencer (M&S) ten years later when a partnership with Thomas Spencer
was formed. Having begun as a market stall, today it is considered to be one of the
UK’s leading multinational retailers with ove...
Marks & Spencer’s also known as M & S is a retailer of clothes headquartered in the City of
London. M & S has approximately 703 stores in United Kingdom (UK) and 361 retail chains
spread across 40 more countries. M & S refers to a retail chain which mainly deals with the sale
of clothes, luxury products, food items, etc. M & S was originated in the year 1984 by two
geniuses i.e. Michael Marks and Thomas Spencer. Even after making a profit of £1 billion,
Marks & Spencer’s dropped down into crises which lasted for many years. According to the
sources, it shall be taken into consideration that over 21 million visitors visit the retail store each
week spread all across the globe. It has been seen that, Marks & Spencer’s treat its customers
with high class quality, fashionable clothes, value for money prices. In case of home products
offered at Marks & Spencer’s, provide food which is high class quality, outstanding variety of
food items which is being sourced from approximately 2, 000 suppliers all over the globe. The
retail chain i.e. Marks & Spencer’s employs 78, 000 people in the UK branch alone. Whereas, it
has more than 700 stores opened in UK & many more to come in the international retail
environment (Quick MBA Knowledge, 2004).
Marks & Spencer’s is mainly known for the vast variety in women’s wear & the lingerie section.
Marks & Spencer’s has been regarded as one of the retail chains which is growing its business by
increasing the market share from various other segments such as ids wear, men’s wear & home
accessories. Marks & Spencer’s focuses upon increasing its market share with the help of online
business as well. The overall sales or market share contributed at M & S from the clothing as
well as home accessories account to approximately 49% of the entire business. The rest 51% of
the sales is contributed through food items which includes, freshly baked cakes, breads, cookies,
groceries, half cooked meals, meat & fish products. Marks & Spencer’s is also known for its
initiatives of green credentials amongst the five year eco plan which mainly focuses upon
neutralizing the carbon effect as well as provide non waste to landfills by the end of 2012.
Mission: “To make aspirational quality accessible to all”
Vision: “To be the standard against which all others are measured”
Values: “Quality,Value, service innovation and trust”
(Marks and Spencer 2014)
Internal Situation Analysis:
Presently, Marks and Spencer is known as market leader in the clothing industry because of its
range and quality of the products. Further, the leadership of M&S has converted its image in the
form of several departmental stores in UK and other countries. Moreover, the financial condition
of M&S is very strong because of the earning huge profits in the last two to three years and it is
more than 9536.6 UK Pound every year (Marks and Spencer, 2013).
Further, in the human resources area, M&S has a number of teams that play an important role in
the development of the organization. It provides extensive Payroll, Pensions, Learning and HR
Administration that also increase its productivity every year (M&S, 2009). Additionally, M&S
has a best recruitment team that manages its stores and head office recruitment process. Apart
from this, the company image in the market is recognized as a responsible business in the top
companies’ list in the UK. It has achieved several awards for Excellence.
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, Further, M&S also follows Learning & Development criteria through providing in-depth training
and performance coaching to its employees for their development. Moreover, M&S has more
than 600 stores in the main cities in the UK that help to increase more earning and profits (Marks
and Spencer, 2013). Its largest store is basically located at Marble Arch in London.
The situation of M&S is basically concerned with the force and factors that affect on its business
environment in the market. These forces and factors are most important for M&S for growth in
the competitive market. In this concern, the external situation of M&S is depends over PESTEL
situation, Porter’s five forces industry analysis, SWOT and Marketing Mix 4Ps analysis.
External Situation Analysis:
M&S is very successful in product range and quality. Recently, they overlooked the changes in
the environment such as increasing competition, changes in customer tastes and so on. As a
result, they remain 'do-nothing' strategy without investing in product innovation, environmental
monitoring or marketing, which led to the decreasing in profits. M&S should start to look at and
change product and marketing strategies. Furthermore, different options should be looked at by
M&S such as brand identity (different brands for different segments), segmentation (more
attention on key segments), diversification (for the financial service, they should choose the
effective target audience and identify their needs and wants properly).
Main Competitors
Marks & Spencer differentiate themselves from their competitors through their brand name.
They have always been recognized and known for their affordable quality.
Unfortunately, in recent years this positioning as a quality retailer has lost its influence and has
resulted in a continuing decline in sales.
Marks and Spencer’s reputation and brand positioning must be reevaluated and restored if sales
are to be salvaged.
Market Share
Marks and Spencer have seen a steady decline in market share and profitability.
Figure 1.0: Share by Value
Source: Verdict
Uncertainty in Positioning
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